A few common questions people ask when dealing with Fleet Safety.
An introduction letter indicates that the data held by this programme shows your fleet could possibly be ‘at risk’ (relative to other commercial fleets of the same size) and we would encourage you to take actions to improve your fleet safety. This website has a selection of free resources for you to use, take the first step and download Your Safe Driving Policy (PDF 568K) and see what you can do.
The first thing to do is investigate what this incident was and the reasons why it happened. Then you can take steps to ensure that such an incident does not occur again. This serious incident should also be logged into your hazard register and managed in the same way as you would any other health and safety related incident. There is a specific fact sheet on this website on incident investigation, download this to help guide your investigation process. Incident, crash and injury investigation fact sheet (PDF 122K)
Local teams are available to help those fleets who have the highest relative risk however, you can contact the fleet safety team by calling 0800 844 657 or by filling out the contact us form and we’ll get back to you.
We’ve designed this website as a one stop shop so most of your questions should be able to be answered using the resources loaded in the resource section or via the links to other external websites and companies who can help.
A safe driving policy is easy to set up and can save you money. No matter what kind of company you run, how big it is or how many vehicles you have, implementing even small driving initiatives can reduce injuries, save lives and save your business money. First step is to download the Your Safe Driving Policy (PDF 568K) and review your current practices against that. Once you’ve identified gaps in your practices or procedures, use the practical tips in the policy document or from some of the other resources to make improvements to your fleet safety management. There is also a sample policy (DOC 83K) you can download to get you started.
Yes you are responsible for them. Employers owe the same duty of care under health and safety law to staff who drive their own vehicles for work as they do to employees who drive company-owned, leased or hired vehicles. Another thing that staff have to consider is whether their insurance will cover them if they are using the vehicle for work purposes, some insurance companies exclude this cover so it is important that they find out. Download the Your Safe Driving Policy (PDF 568K), there is a whole section about staff using their own cars for work purposes with practical tips on what you can do.
First of all you need to investigate these incidents and find out why they are happening. We’ve included a fact sheet on incident investigation to help you do this. Many serious traffic incidents are as a result of driver behaviour – was there any drink/drug driving, speeding, careless or reckless driving involved? Your policy needs to include hiring and disciplinary procedures including potential dismissal when procedures aren’t followed. Why not include driving behaviour in the company code of conduct? Also you can seek permission from employees to check their licence status through Driver Check or TORO. Other incidents could be linked to the working time rule and log books required for transport service drivers. Has there been any pressure put on drivers to exceed hours driving? Transport service drivers have work time limits they must comply with and can work a maximum of 13 hours in one day with specific rest breaks to help manage fatigue. Your scheduling needs to ensure that drivers are not required to work excessive hours.
The traffic incidents that are included in the Fleet Safety data are considered serious and it is important that you, as an employer, are aware of what your staff have experienced. This is why you would still get a letter advising you that one of your vehicles had been involved in an incident. The calculation of potential risk is based on the number of traffic infringements per vehicle per fleet. This is an approximate measure of risk – that will offer a risk profile to the partnering agencies working with the fleets. If you are concerned that your score has been affected by an incident unfairly then please contact us and let us know. We’ll work with you to review your risk profile. The data is updated monthly and risk profiles are calculated on a three year rolling basis. This means positive changes may take a while to be reflected in your risk profile. Keeping up the positive changes over time will ensure your risk profile trends downwards
Have a good look through the resources on this website first, we’ve made it as comprehensive as possible to give you as much information as is available. If you still have questions, contact us for assistance.
This programme complements the NZTA ORS programme. Fleet Safety is aimed at all employers who manage a commercial fleet with five or more vehicles. It identifies businesses with a high on-road health and safety risk and then works with employers and fleet managers to reduce that risk, including providing advice and ideas from local teams from the four partner agencies. NZTA’s Operators Rating System (ORS) is a new NZTA rating system for heavy vehicle operators. It aims to provide a fair and accurate indication of both the safety of an operator's fleet and their compliance with land transport safety legislation. ORS is a NZTA led rating system for heavy vehicle operators that aims to improve the safety of heavy vehicles on our roads, making journeys safer for all. It works by encouraging transport operators to make their vehicles and driving practices as safe as possible and by incentivising operators to comply with their regulatory obligations that contribute to safety. ORS specifically covers goods service licence holders with a vehicle of 6,000kg or over, and to passenger service licence holders with a motor vehicle with more than 12 seats or a heavy motor vehicles with more than nine seats. It provides heavy vehicle operators with a rating based on how they’ve been assessed in safety related events, such as certificates of inspection, roadside inspections and relevant traffic offences.
The focus of ORS is to ensure TSL and PSL holders are meeting regulatory requirements, whilst FSP focuses on best practice for all commercial fleet owners and managers. Good fleet safety is good business. It pays off in reduced vehicle wear and tear, downtime and damage, and improved fuel efficiency. Fleet Safety provides operators with a range of free resources to help identify and manage hazards that affect fleet safety, and local teams who work with operators to help keep their fleets on the road and making money.
Yes there are and there are some examples contained within the Your Safe Driving Policy booklet (PF 568K) which you can download. As more companies are involved in the Fleet Safety Programme, we hope to be able to tell their stories on this website to share and give inspiration to other companies wanting to make changes to their fleet management.
These are incidents NZ Police and the Fleet Safety Programme rate as being more serious offences.
Yes - if the incident is related to fatigue management issues. If five or more omissions are present on inspection, a critical incident will be identified.
Your username and password are essential - and will be required every time you log back in. Your name and your email address will be required - as you will be the formal 'user' for the system in your company.
Up to five users can access data in one company. Each will need different User Names, User IDs and email addresses, and then can be added by an existing user - to the limit of five in total. Ultimately access and control of this information rests with you and your company. Currently a user can only remove themselves, so if a user has left your company without exiting from the programme, you will need to raise a 'helpdesk' request. You can see the names of other users in your company by selecting 'show the users' button.
Yes - they are the PENDING data at the top of your report. In time, if they are upheld they will be added to your COMPLETED data in your report. If they are not upheld they will be removed from your report and the history of your company fleet safety.
No - only completed data is used to calculate a ranking order of commercial fleets according to safety. This information is used by the partnership agencies to assist companies with highest relative risk.
Yes – to get full information you will need to tick the checkbox. Leaving this confirmation unchecked will result in a report without registration numbers included.
A privacy waiver is a formal written and signed agreement between fleet owner/manager and employees (drivers) declaring that they are agreeing to the sharing of traffic infringement and crash data with the company. You will also need a company policy requiring your drivers to advise you (or the company) of any traffic offences or serious incidents in the course of driving your company vehicle. Included in the company policy is a clear point on sharing of infringement and crash data. No personalised driver information is stored in this system but events associated with the vehicle may inadvertently contribute towards identifying individuals with infringements.
The data is updated monthly and risk scores are calculated on a three year rolling basis. This means positive changes may take a while to be reflected in your risk rating. Keeping up the positive changes over time will ensure your risk rating trends downwards.
Contact us with your questions about your risk rating and we’ll be in contact with you to check our records.